LONGPORT — There’s something driving rodents into resident homes on Bay Haven Drive, and it’s not a block of cheese or a cat named Tom.
The Board of Commissioners is looking to see what it can do about the alleged “rat problem” residents complained about at a recent meeting. Some Bay Haven residents say the rats are coming from the borough’s Fire Department and Beach Patrol boathouse on Atlantic Avenue.
“So we’ve noticed some rats, and of course, it’s scary. And they’re big. We’ve never had them before,” said Paul Wickman, whose home on Bay Haven Drive abuts the firehouse, at last week’s meeting. “I’m concerned that there are more, and I consider it a dangerous situation. So anything that you can suggest or help to eliminate them would be really good.”
Borough Solicitor Michael Affanato said what the city could and couldn’t do about the nesting rats depended on whether they really were coming from the city-owned properties.
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“We can’t do anything if it’s on private property,” Affanato said.
He cautioned that because the borough does not have certain licenses, it could not put out bombs or any sort of exterminating measure to deal with the potential issue.
Rodents, such as rats, are known to carry diseases that could potentially be spread to people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Wickman said the dogs in the neighborhood have killed some of the rats, but he was still worried about the situation considering there were other pets and small children that could be affected by the rodents.
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Glenn Davis, a fellow Bay Haven Drive resident, said this was his first time seeing rats in the area as well.
“I’ve been gardening in the community garden for the last five years, and I’ve never seen a rat in the boathouse area, or the garden area, and I spent a lot of time back there,” said Davis. “There are rat holes throughout the ground underneath the boathouse. There are ratholes everywhere. I think it’s a lot bigger problem than the one rat trap that I see back there.”
Davis said the rats were entering his property by digging holes in the ground, in addition to going under other homeowners’ fences.
Davis speculated that the rodent problem stemmed from the amount of trash and junk in the area of the firehouse.
“Although the firehouse in that area started to do a lot better job cleaning it up, for the last few years, there’s been piles, laying everywhere, which is what I think why the rats have started going on to the boathouse,” said Davis. “If you look all around that boathouse, there are holes everywhere that need to be dealt with.”
Affanato said there was a rat problem two years ago in his Winchester Avenue neighborhood.
“We’re surrounded by water on three sides,” said Mayor Nick Russo, who noted rats were common in bay areas.
Wickman said he was made aware of the problem about a month ago. He reached out to Western Pest Services, the borough’s exterminator, about the issue. He said the company has been coming out to his property the past three weeks setting traps and capturing the rats.
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“It’s been four days since we’ve seen any of the rats, so I think we’re on the downside of it,” Wickman said at the meeting.
Davis said he also called Western, which told him there was a “huge colony of rats” in the area of the community garden behind Borough Hall, next to the Beach Patrol’s boathouse and the Fire Department.
“They have not been in the firehouse,” said Fire Chief Levon S. “Lefty” Clayton at the meeting.
Davis said city officials and residents were all in agreement about seeing what could be done to address the issue.
“We’re all on the same page, so there’s no misunderstanding. But my experience is, there must be people who are really qualified rat people,” said Davis. “If there is someone above Western or someone else that has dealt with these problems more effectively, then my suggestion would be maybe we should consider checking into it.”
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